I really, really wanted to see Michael Connelly return to form. I had high hopes for The Black Box, but although it was a disappointment it was still markedly better than his other recent efforts. Connelly basically turned me onto this genre many years ago with his first novels and it's been sad (and costly, and time-consuming) for his readers to watch him settle into mediocrity. On the surface, this Bosch book sounded like it had the potential for redemption, but it wasn't to be. It's not a bad book, it's just not that good.

It's a fairly interesting cold-case of the murder of a foreign journalist during the LA riots of the 90's. Bosch has his usual run-ins with authority figures as he uses tried-and-true techniques and intuition to make progress on the investigation, and for awhile there it sounded like he would be bounced from the case and the department in short order. However, he's able to work through his issues, make some logical leaps to identify and eventually take down the suspects, and in the meantime handle the sub-plots of romance and parenting. Everything turns out well.

When I read and eventually review novels, I usually 'rate' them in plot, writing, dialogue, and conclusion. The Black Box had a decent plot, but I did have problems with several parts that I thought no cop would ever do. The conclusion as well was a bit hard to take- although the good guys 'won' in the end, I don't necessarily think the way the story built to that point was very believable.

I had my biggest problem with the writing and dialogue. In a word, it was boring. When Hemingway wrote in simple, declarative sentences, it was magic. When Connelly does it, which seemed to be what he attempted to do throughout this book, it was tedious, sort of like listening to Detective Joe Friday for 400 pages. The dialogue was likewise rather stilted and odd-sounding in many cases.

At least the plot, albeit with a few holes, was a bit better this time. Who knows- with marginal improvement each time Connelly might be back to his previous level of competence in 10 or 15 years. ( )

The murder was 20 years old but Harry was determined that he would speak for the young Danish reporter that died during the riots of 1992. The book was just okay as far as I was concerned. I really like Michael Connelly's books but this one just didn't do it for me. ( )

To all the readers who have kept Harry Bosch alive for twenty years, Many, many thanks.

And to the men who parted the crowdand led me through that day in 1992Many thanks as well.

First words

SNOW WHITE1992

By the third night the death toll was rising so high ans so quickly that many of the divisional homicide teams were pulled off the front lines of riot control and put into emergency rotations at South Central.

Wikipedia in English (3)

AUDIO EDITION:May 1992, and after four LAPD officers were acquitted after the savage beating of Rodney King, Los Angeles is ablaze. As looting and burning take over the city, law and order are swept away in a tidal wave of violence. But under the threat of their lives, homicide detectives like Harry Bosch are still stubbornly trying to do their job. With no effective policing on the streets, murder just got a whole lot easier - and investigating them got a whole lot harder.

When he finds the body of a female journalist executed in an alley, he cannot accept that he will never be able to bring her killer to justice and her tragedy starts to eat into his soul. But then 20 years later, the past comes back to haunt him...

Haiku summary

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▾Library descriptions

In a case that spans 20 years, Harry Bosch links the bullet from a recent crime to a file from 1992, the killing of a young female photographer during the L.A. riots. Harry originally investigated the murder, but it was then handed off to the Riot Crimes Task Force and never solved. Now Bosch's ballistics match indicates that her death was not random violence, but something more personal, and connected to a deeper intrigue. Like an investigator combing through the wreckage after a plane crash, Bosch searches for the 'black box,' the one piece of evidence that will pull the case together.… (more)